


The Taxonomy of Charms

by for_t2



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alphabet, Angst and Humor, Dumbledore's Army, F/F, Friendship, Hogwarts Eighth Year, Hopeful Ending, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, Minor Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Nargles, Post-Battle of Hogwarts, Quidditch, Recovery, Trauma, non-binary luna lovegood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-20
Updated: 2020-06-20
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:15:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24823693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/for_t2/pseuds/for_t2
Summary: In the year after the battle of Hogwarts, 26 ways in which Ginny, Luna, and the rest of Dumbledore's Army broke binaries, defied destiny, and changed the world
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, Luna Lovegood/Ginny Weasley
Comments: 2
Kudos: 28





	The Taxonomy of Charms

**All Aboard!**

Seeing the train again was one of the weirdest feelings Ginny had ever had. In a way, it felt like summer had never finished. In a way, it felt like it never started. It had felt just another chapter in everything that had happened. There was so much work to be done, so much to rebuild and grieve, that there had never been a chance to take a break.

To stop.

To breath.

“Are you okay?” Luna appeared next to her, voice as soft and breezy as ever, almost as if it had all never happened.

“I…” The crowd jostled around them, shoulders bumping in the rush to jump on the train and get a compartment of choice. “I guess I just feel weird.”

“People call me weird all the time.” Luna shrugged.

“Yeah, and I hex them.”

Luna just stared at Ginny. And slowly, slowly pulled a pair of what could only be described as the most ridiculous pair of glasses Ginny had ever seen. Even by Luna’s standards. “Maybe this year I can be weird.”

And when Luna gave her a smile, Ginny couldn’t stop herself from giggling. “You will.” She grabbed Luna’s hand. Tugged her forward. “We all can.”

**Beans**

“I don’t think I can.” Ginny emptied the last bean of the box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans into her palm. Held it up for Luna to see. 

“Interesting.” Luna titled her head to get a better look at the colour. “Maybe it tastes like nargles.”

“What do nargles even taste like?” Ginny prodded the bean with her wand. “Do they taste good?” Luna shrugged. “Do they taste bad?” Luna shrugged again. “Do they taste… something else?”

“Nobody’s ever tasted one.”

“Are they edible?”

“That’s a very controversial question, Ginny.”

“It is?”

Luna nodded gravely. “One of my father’s colleagues has a sister whose cousin knows someone who fought in a duel because of it.” She frowned. “He lost.”

“You mean he—”

“Finally!” Harry chose that exact moment to barge into the compartment, quickly followed by Ron and an exasperated looking Hermione. “We’ve been looking all over for you!”

“Is that chocolate?” Ron swiped the bean out of Ginny’s hand.

“Ron!” Both Ginny and Luna’s eyes went wide as he popped it into his mouth. “The nargles—”

“I love chocolate!”

**Choice**

Hogwarts had changed.

It wasn’t just the scars on the walls or the new pillars awkwardly fitted in to stop the place from collapsing before term started, it was also the air. The atmosphere filled with students who should’ve graduated the year before and students who just weren’t there anymore. The atmosphere filled with silence, the four tables further apart than they’d ever been. 

“Are you okay?” Harry gave Ginny a nudge, breaking her eyes out of their wandering path that was had circled back to the Ravenclaw table again.

“Everybody keeps asking me that.”

He slipped his hand over hers. “Everybody keeps asking me that too.” Gave it a small squeeze.

She didn’t squeeze back. Just watched the queue of new students file in, shepherded one by one to be sorted into the same old houses, the same old way.

Maybe the problem wasn’t that everything had changed – it was that everyone was trying to pretend nothing had. 

**Decisions**

“I can’t.”

McGonagall let out a long sigh. “Do you many students I’ve heard say that today, Ginerva?”

Ginny looked up from the pile of brochures drowning the desk of the Head of Gryffindor House. A pile of where each brochure tried to out-flashy the others. “One?”

“Every. Single. One.” McGonagall had turned down the job of Headmistress, saying that she was too old for that type of stress. “Look. I know it’s not an easy decision to make, but…”

“But?”

“The Ministry has asked for everyone to do their part in rebuilding our society. A lot of positions lost people who need to be replaced.” McGonagall dug a couple of brochures out of the pile. “Now, based on your aptitudes, I would be delighted to recommend you to—”

“I was hoping I could keep playing quidditch.”

The silence that followed was excruciating. Eventually McGonagall placed the two brochures down. “The Ministry does not believe that games would be useful at this point.”

“But—”

“And there’s nothing I can do about that.”

**Endings**

She hadn’t told him that she was sneaking out to the Quidditch pitch, but somehow, she wasn’t surprised to find him there. “Hey, Harry.” At least the overcast rain clouds above and the wet mud below meant that the weather matched her mood.

“Hey.”

Ginny climbed across the stands to find a seat on the wooden benches next to him. For a while, the two just sat there, shivering damply, and watching the non-existent match that wasn’t taking place in front of them. “Are we—”

“This isn’t—” Harry started at the same time as she did. “Sorry.”

Ginny didn’t match his chuckle. “I never thought I’d come back to a Hogwarts where I couldn’t play quidditch.”

“Yeah.”

Ginny nodded. “Yeah.”

They fell into silence again, just the rain pattering onto the wood and the wind blowing across the field. This time, Harry spoke first. “This isn’t working, is it?”

**Funeral**

Headmistress Hooch’s speech might’ve been a little too moving. And the castle a little too small. When the memorial ceremony was over, it seemed like almost every student had to run off and find their own little corner to cry in.

Which, of course, meant that for maybe the first time in its history, Hogwarts was faced with a shortage of places to hide. Even when the Carrows stalked its halls, Ginny had usually been able to find some passageway to duck in or some empty classroom to curl up under a desk in.

“Leave me alone.” After the sixth pair of footsteps marched through the door of the closet Ginny had been able to find tucked away in a dusty passage in one of the towers, she stopped bothering to look up and see who it was.

“Okay.” Luna backed out right away.

“Wait!” Ginny had enough emotions coursing through her without the extra weird little jolt that voice sent through her heart. “Just… don’t say anything.” There wasn’t really anything to say anymore.

“Okay.” Luna dropped down next to Ginny. Leaned her head on Ginny’s shoulder. Somehow, that said more than anything Ginny had heard in weeks.

“Where are all the ghosts?” For all Hogwarts was seeming small, the castle’s oldest occupants had been nowhere to be seen during the ceremony. Not even Peeves. “Are they off chasing nargles? Or moon frogs? Or…”

Luna shook her head. “They’re just giving us some space.”

“Why?” After a certain point, the sheer number of reminders of all the people they had lost in the battle stopped hitting them and just blurred together. “It’s not like they’re dead.”

“But they’re not alive.” Luna slipped an arm through Ginny’s and clung on tightly. “Especially the new ones.”

**Gender**

“Luna…” Ginny put down her Magical Creatures textbook as a scandalous thought burrowed through her boredom. “How do nargles, you know, do it?”

Luna peered up from the latest edition of the Quibbler, draped over the chair next to Ginny, upside down (something about increased blood flow to the brain being needed to decode a series of pictures that would reveal the truth the Icesprout Conspiracy which…). “Do it?”

“You know,” Ginny mashed her fingers together. “Do it. Do the guy nargles and the girl nargles just kinda…”

“Guy nargles and girl nargles?” The look Luna was giving her made Ginny uncomfortable in a worried way. A way that meant she might’ve just crossed some sort of line. “Not everything has to be about guys and girls, Ginny.”

“I’m sorry.” The heat from the common room fire was suddenly a little too hot. “I didn’t mean—”

“It’s okay.” Luna gave her a small smile. “Sometimes, I just envy them. Nobody tells them they have to be a guy or a girl, they can be just be free.” She looked up contemplatively at the ceiling. “Free to steal your shoes.” Ginny jumped as a pair of shoes dropped down with Luna’s flick of her wand. A pair of shoes that must’ve had at least a couple years of dust on them. “I’ve always wondered where they went.”

The discomfort Ginny felt morphed into something else entirely. Something fierce. “Luna, you know I’ll never tell you to be anything you don’t want, right?”

“I know.” Luna’s smile just made that something fierce burn louder. “Thank you.” Especially when Luna planted a tiny kiss on her cheek.

**Humour**

“You don’t have to do this.”

“What are you talking about?” Ginny stuffed her wand back into her belt, having just used it to chase off a group of first years. Somehow, despite everything, people still picked on Luna. Even when everything changes, some things don’t. “Course I do.”

“It really doesn’t bother me that much.”

“But it still bothers you.” Ginny started off towards the class they were both now running late for. “So it bothers me.”

“That’s very kind of you.” Ginny caught the quick glance Luna shot behind her when a pair of footsteps rushed past them. “Even when you’re just humouring me.”

“What do you mean?”

“You listen to me when you don’t have to.”

“You listen to me when I talk about quidditch.” Ginny shrugged. “I like hearing your theories.” She almost wanted to say that she liked hearing her voice. Just her voice. “Sides, if there’s anyone who can find proof of nargles, it’s you. And I want to help you.”

After the class finished, Ginny promised Luna that when she made the Holyhead Harpies (because it was going to be when, not if), she would make sure that they would uncover all the evidence of the Tornadoes corruption.

And, of course, she’d make sure to win every single game she played against them. For Luna.

**Inventions**

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.” Hermione’s indignant cry was quickly followed by her slamming the latest Daily Prophet onto the table with enough strength to topple the cups of everyone around her. “She’s at it again!”

“Oooh, let me see.” Ron snatched the paper away from her. “The Boy Who Loved. Twice.” He sniggered as he skimmed through the article. “The captain of the French national quidditch team? Really?”

“I’ve never even met the captain of the French national quidditch team!” The colour rising up Harry’s cheeks was quickly matching the colour of a Weasley’s hair.

“Oh, come on Harry.” Ginny patted his back. Even if they were exes, that didn’t mean they weren’t going to stay friends. “I’m sure she’s very attractive.” And especially because they were exes, she wasn’t going to pass up an opportunity to tease him. “What did they say about me?”

“Let’s see.” Ron scanned the article. Winced. “Nothing.”

“Nothing?”

“I’d be grateful.” Hermione muttered. “I swear, next time I see that Skeeter b—lady…”

“I guess you’re just another Weasley now.” Ron put on his most dramatic tone. “Nothing compared to the majestic young man who so boldly defeated He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named, whose flowing hair and—”

“Dark steamy eyes?” Harry buried his face in his hands as an extra set of sniggering joined the table. Or, at least, in Malfoy’s case it would probably be more accurately described as sneering. “Oh yes, I read the article last night. Mother always gets the first Prophet off the printing press.” He smirked at the collective Gryffindor eye roll. “Careful Potter, roll those eyes too hard and they might pop out. We certainly couldn’t have that, could we?”

When Harry finally looked up, Malfoy was striding away as pompous as always. “Is it too much to ask that the war would’ve changed him even just a little bit?”

**Juries**

“But it’s not fair!”

What felt like the entirety of the Ravenclaw common room looked up from their books and chess games to stare at Ginny. “The Tutshill Tornados championship wasn’t fair either.” Luna shook her head. “They still won.”

Ginny sat back down next to Luna. “It’s not fair.” She hissed. “What’s the point of defeating Voldemort if someone like Lucius Malfoy can still prance around like a fucking prick?” The reforms the Ministry had just announced to weed out the Death Eaters from its ranks were, in the opinion of Ginny and a lot of other Dumbledore’s Army members, entirely insufficient.

“I know.” Especially considering what he did to Luna. “But at least I’m here now. With you.”

**Krebs**

“And that,” Ginny tapped her wand on the desk to emphasise the point, “is how nargles reproduce.”

Hermione’s gaze slowly morphed from utter scepticism into a more careful neutrality. “You spend a lot of time with Luna, don’t you?”

Duh. Luna was Ginny’s best friend. And after everything that had happened, there was a part of her that was absolutely terrified of losing her again. “It makes sense doesn’t it?”

“Luna’s hypothesis…” Hermione considered her words. Very carefully. “The Krebs cycle generates energy, not babies.”

“It does?”

Hermione sighed (almost like a junior McGonagall). “I think it might be a good idea to introduce some basic biology into the Hogwarts curriculum.”

“We already have herbology.” And care of magical creatures.

“Muggle biology.”

“There’s a difference?”

“Yes…” Ginny could see Hermione wavering for an instant before letting her eyes light up. “There’s so much our two societies could learn from each other. So much we should learn. Arthur—your dad agrees.” Clearly, Hermione had been preparing a speech like this for a while. “We don’t need to be so divided. So secret. All our different ways of knowledge, of learning, together. We could do so much!”

“Different ways of knowledge, eh?” In fact, Ginny did vaguely remember her muttering something about running for Minister after graduation. “I’ll have to give that speech to Luna.”

Hermione gave her the weirdest look. “You should. It’ll make her happy.”

**Love**

“You shouldn’t.”

“Why not?” Ginny dug her fist through the fresh snow. Rolled up a snowball. “You scared?”

“They’re watching.” Often, when Luna said “they” were watching, it could mean anything from nargles to the Rotfang Conspiracy. But, in this case, when Ginny followed Luna’s nod, “they” meant a pair of aurors, standing off to the side of the street, fingers twitching towards their wands.

“Oh.” Ginny dropped the snowball, disappointed. The first trip to Hogsmeade of the year, and half the stores were closed, the other half had restricted visiting hours, and she couldn’t even throw a snowball.

“I used to love the snow, the way the snowflakes dance across the wind, shining in the sunshine…” She huddled deeper into her jacket. “But now it’s too cold.”

“We can go back, if you want.” Ginny huddled a little closer to her. “We could find the others. Get some tea.”

“It’s hard.” Luna’s voice was elsewhere, in some world so far away from Ginny. “I want to dance with them again, I want to be light and free, and stuck in the cellar and…” She stopped in her tracks, her voice dropping to a whisper. “It’s hard.”

“Hey.” Ginny’s hand impulsively reached out to wipe the tear under Luna’s eyes. “It’s okay that it’s hard.” Hell knows Ginny still dreams about Fred almost every day. Still cries about it. “It’s okay.” She wrapped her arms around Luna. Hugged her like the world depended on it.

“Fuck you, Potter!”

They jumped apart at the sound of a very posh shout storming right past them.

“Come on, Draco!” And the sight of Harry rushing right after him, fists curled around a fancy little envelope as if his life depended on it. “I didn’t mean…”

“What.” Ginny stared after them as they faded into the snowfall. “In. Merlin’s. Name?”

“He’s very lonely, you know.” Luna’s smile came back, light and genuine, and with a touch of smugness that was positively un-Luna-like (the crytpicness, however, was entirely hers). “For now.”

**Murder**

The rumours had started flying the instant the pair of first-year siblings had been pulled out of Potions. Especially when the rumours picked up on the fact that they were muggle-born. And especially when word filtered from some (allegedly) well-connected upper-year students that a supposedly respected auror was suddenly claiming the Imperius curse.

And when the Daily Prophet hit the next morning… 

Ginny was the first one to break the silence. “It’s not over.”

**Nails**

It was easy, Ginny thought one night, tucked up under the covers in the Gryffindor towers, how easy it was to notice all the small details about Luna. From the way the light reflected through her hair to the way the colour nail polish changed with her mood to the way the colours just curved around her… 

Even when she was in class, when she was supposed to be listening to the teachers in class, she found herself focusing on all the details, all the ways they fit together so perfectly to make Luna.

It was distracting. It should’ve been annoying.

But it was just…

It… 

It was nice.

**Order**

“This is ridiculous!”

“Another form letter?” Ginny didn’t need to look up from her plate to figure out what Hermione had just slammed onto the table. After learning that the New Ministry had decided to uphold a number of convictions from Voldemort-era laws (including a few regulations personally drafted by a certain ex-Hogwarts High Inquistor), Hermione had pledged to launch what would be, in her own words, the greatest letter-writing campaign Hogwarts had ever seen.

“Absolutely ridiculous.” She ripped yet another form letter out of Ron’s hands before tossing it away. “How can they think anything that hag has to say about sentient creatures is worth anything? How?”

“Cause they agree with her?” Ginny muttered between a mouthful of sausage roll. With ever new announcement from the New Ministry, it became clearer and clearer that it was Voldemort and Voldemort alone who lost the battle.

“How can they? After everything?” Hermione, to her credit, was as stubborn as ever. “I can’t believe them.” As ready to fight as ever.

And maybe Ginny was too. “So what are we going to do about it?”

**Poetry**

One day, Ginny found a small slip of paper tucked between the cushions of the Gryffindor common room. Tucked as in lost and forgotten there for who knows how many nights.

Curiously, that little piece of paper wasn’t just paper. Scrawled on it, with some of the neatest handwriting she had ever seen (and definitely far far neater than her own), was what looked like half a poem.

Half a love poem.

“Psst. Luna.” Ginny slipped it over to Luna at the first chance she got in the morning’s Charms class. When Luna’s eyes went wide as she read the words, Ginny added, “I found it in our sofa.”

“You… Ah.” Luna’s face flashed through a couple of indecipherable emotions. “Your handwriting is much nicer.” 

“So what do you think?”

Luna re-read the words. Smiled. “Good for Harry.”

**Quibbler**

Ron and Hermione had been joyfully (and entirely willing) volunteered by Ginny upon the arrival of the latest edition of the Quibbler. An edition that featured an incredibly plausible article about documents that were leaked during one of the battles against the Death Eaters that proved the existence of a hidden bookshelf deep inside the walls of Hogwarts. A bookshelf that contained a very special cookbook.

A cookbook that contained the long lost recipe for the Welsh preparation of nargles.

It was a very controversial question, and Ginny was going to find the answer. With Luna’s help, of course, and her joyful volunteers.

“How much longer?” Ron moaned before Hermione could elbow him (again).

Ginny peered over Luna’s shoulder at the map (trying not to focus on how… nice it felt when her cheek brushed Luna’s). “Um…”

“Two more doors!” Luna announced cheerfully, before fishing her newest pair of glasses out of her bag. “It’s a good thing father was able to find…”

Silence.

Two more doors landed right on an open door. An open door to an almost empty classroom.

Almost empty except for a mop of tussled brown hair and very, very blonde hair. Two colours that were very close together. Very very close.

Silence.

Luna and Hermione both simultaneously clapped a hand to their mouths. And with their other hand, Hermione grabbed Ron and Luna grabbed Ginny. And very quietly backed the two jaw-dropped Weasleys away from the door.

It took Ginny a moment to process.

“Ronald Billius Weasley.” She hissed, sounding uncannily like her mother. “What is your best friend doing with—”

“He’s your ex!” Ron hissed back. “How would I know who he likes to snog?”

“You talk about that your best friend.” Obviously. “Not your ex!”

“Well, we all know you have a thing for blondes too, and I don’t, so—”

“I what?”

“Hey. Hey. Hey!” Hermione stepped between them. “Why don’t we just be happy for both of them?” With that, she decisively tugged Ron away. And as they marched away, Ginny could swear she saw Hermione’s wand flicker just a bit, almost like a silencing spell. Almost.

It took Ginny a moment to process.

“Luna. That poem.” Horror dawned with the realisation. “Please don’t tell me that was Malfoy.”

“I thought it was rather romantic.” And when Luna smiled dreamily, damned if Ginny didn’t believe that too.

And Ginny definitely didn’t have a thing for blondes. Definitely not. Definitely.

**Resistance**

The rumour mill went wild the moment Headmistress Hooch made a short pre-supper speech about the appropriateness of certain relationships.

The rumour mill went even wilder when a coordinated (and expensive-looking) series of owls hit the Slytherin table the next day and when Malfoy’s face went deathly pale.

The rumour mill went even even wilder when a handful of students were called to their Heads of Houses right before lunch. Including a certain Mr. Potter.

“I’m sure Professor McGonagall just wants to make sure Harry’s okay.” Hermione hadn’t touched her food. “Especially because of that man that calls himself Draco’s father.”

“If that slimy git does anything to them, I’ll hex his face into outer space.” Ron hissed.

“Me first.” Ginny added.

“Honestly, you two.” Hermione sighed. “You can’t hex your way out of every problem.”

“Ah but, Hermione darling, we can hex our way out of this problem.” Ron tapped his wand to his head sagely (or, at least, what would’ve looked sagely if a couple sparks hadn’t immediately flown out).

“Hmm.” Hermione considered it. Stabbed a boiled egg with her fork. “I suppose.”

While Ron grinned proudly, Ginny’s eyes drifted past the Ravenclaw table and over to the Great Hall entrance, where a certain Ravenclaw student who had said something about the day’s sun being just right to create the shadows needed to solve the latest Quibbler crossword was just wandering in. “Oh.”

“Ginny?” Hermione and Ron both looked up as she jumped to her feet.

“Oh.” Appropriate relations be damned.

“Hello, Ginny.” Luna smiled as Ginny marched right through the crowd to her. And when the light caught in both of their eyes, her smile got a little wider. “I’ll admit that I didn’t imagine it quite like this.”

Ginny shrugged. “Me neither.”

It only took a second before their lips met.

**Signing**

When Ginny was called into McGonagall’s office a few days later, she didn’t admit to anyone that she was just a little terrified. The last few days with Luna, with cuddling Luna and kissing Luna and… The last few days were not going to be the last days, and she was not going to let anyone take that away from her.

Even if it meant having to pull and Fred and George style escape from the castle.

So when the professor gently set a parchment on her desk and handed a pen to Ginny with the most stress-free smile Ginny had seen from her in a few years, Ginny was caught a little off guard. “Congratulations, Ms. Weasley.”

“What’s this?” Ginny barely dared to glance further than the logo at the head of the parchment.

“I may be getting old and terribly frustrated with our Ministry, but I still have my ways.” She pushed the parchment closer to Ginny. “And there just happens to be a certain Swedish quidditch legend who still owes me a favour from a few decades back.”

“I…” Ginny’s thoughts barely formed a coherent stream as she picked up the parchment. The contract. The contract for the top quidditch team in Scandinavia. “I’ll have to think about it.”

“Take your time.” The professor’s voice just radiated pride. “I’ve assured him that he wouldn’t be able to scout a more talented player across the British Isles.”

“Thank you.”

“The pleasure’s all mine.” Ginny’s knees felt unsteady as she pushed herself back to her feet. “Oh, and, Ginerva?”

“Yes?”

“I know it’s not really any of my business, especially considering she’s not from my house, but…” McGonagall folded her hands together and gave Ginny the deadliest stare possible. “I immensely value Ms. Lovegood’s contributions to this school. As eccentric as they may be.”

In the last few days, no fewer than two dozen people, from students to faculty to ghosts, had taken the time to take Ginny aside and warn her about the consequences if anything were to happen to Luna. And damned if it didn’t make Ginny smile each time. “So do I.”

**Taxonomy**

The longer Ginny stared at the words in the textbook, the more they seemed to blur together. “I don’t get it.” Most days, it would just be mildly inconvenient. The eve of a big test, however, it was positively apocalyptic.

“Hmm?” Luna peeked over the magazine with a Swedish title which Ginny could not pronounce, but which Luna assured her was basically the same thing as the Quibbler (because, of course, there’s at least one Xenophilius Lovegood in every country), and Ginny remember just how immensely thankful she was to be dating someone who was much smarter than her.

“Why is the soaring charm in the same category as the burrowing charm? And why’s the levitating charm in an entirely different category?” The words had been blurring together for a long time. “And why does it matter? Why do I have to learn this?” And Ginny did not want to fail this test. “Who even decided this?” She would show him (because it probably was a him) exactly what a soaring charm fucking looked like.

“Charles the Linear.” Luna said in a singsong matter-of-factly. “He created the taxonomic system of charms used across modern Europe back in the 18th century.” And almost very matter-of-Hermionely.

“How do you know this?” Ginny was positive she’d never heard that name before in her life. Nor could she imagine a situation where she would hear that name.

“My father once knew a lovely couple down in Llanfairfechan. They were supposed to write an article for the Quibbler about how Charles the Linear hunted the Welsh charms to extinction. Spells don’t have to be Latin, you know.” Now that Ginny thought about it, it made sense. “They had found a long lost scroll which would’ve let them revive the most terrifying Celtic spells.” Luna’s grin on the word terrifying made Ginny make a mental note to revive a conversation she once had with Hermione about something called ‘muggle horror films.’ “Apparently their spells could tame nargles.”

“Tame nargles?” Wow. “Wait.” Wait, wait, wait. “They were supposed to?” Past tense? Unresolved tense?

“They disappeared the day before the deadline.” Luna shrugged. “Their bodies were never found.”

“Oh.”

“Also,” Luna flicked her wand and sent the pages of Ginny’s textbook flipping back to the start. “It was in Chapter 1.”

And indeed, it was. Charles the Linear. On Page 5 of the textbook. With a portrait and everything. “I don’t remember Chapter 1.”

**Umbrella**

There was something incredibly soothing about the fresh rain and the way it pounded down from the clouds, pattering across the wooden stands and the green grass of the pitch. And there was something incredibly freeing about hanging up there in the sky with the rain.

It had taken almost the entire year before the combined efforts of the Hogwarts staff and students, and a few months of relative peace in the Hogsmeade area, before it was enough to convince the Ministry to give the go ahead for quidditch to return, even if it was just a few scrimmages.

And, Merlin, Ginny had missed it. And it felt so so good to be back. Even if it was a little weird seeing Draco’s and Harry’s rivalry turn downright playful.

And best of all, despite the line aurors guarding every possible entrance into the pitch, a small audience had been allowed to come out and watch them play. A small audience that had mostly decided it was worth sacrificing their dignity to huddle under Luna’s comically oversized umbrella.

And for every point Ginny scored, no cheered louder than Luna.

Her girlfriend.

**Vagabonds**

The end of the term was hurtling towards them, and with that meant the first ever double cohort of Hogwarts graduations. Problem was, after everything that happened, a whole year wasn’t nearly near to make things clear.

It wasn’t just that the New Ministry was still trying to put itself together, it was all the classes of creatures and classes withing creatures that still eyed each other with suspicion after every new lone wolf attack and every new decision the New Ministry made. It was all the families and friendships and relationships that had been broken and still just needed time.

“You haven’t signed your contract yet.” Luna remarked randomly one afternoon when they were taking a break from the endlessly studying (prompted mainly by Hermione’s very convincing threat to hex the entirety of the castle if they didn’t shut up and let her concentrate).

“Do you want to go to Sweden?”

“It’s the best place in the world to find crumple-horned snorkacks.” Which was admittedly true. “Do you?”

Yes, but… maybe, but… “It would feel like running away.”

“Sometimes it’s okay to run away.”

“Sometimes…” Ginny couldn’t stop a tremble from creeping through her hands. “Sometimes I still dream about it. The diary.” She had for years, but not like this. “Sometimes I wonder if there’s still a part of him inside me.” She barely felt Luna’s hands slip around hers. “Sometimes when I think about Fred and… and everybody, I get so, so angry, and I just want to…” Sometimes, there aren’t words to describe what it feels like to have an inferno rage inside you and to want it to scorch through you and everything in your path until there’s nothing left but ash and blood.

Luna drew a little closer to Ginny. Planted a kiss on her forehead. “Even the nargles agree you’re beautiful, Ginny.”

Ginny couldn’t help herself from snorting. “Not as beautiful as you.” And definitely not from returning that kiss.

**Wizards of the World, Unite!**

It was Hermione who had first mumbled the beginnings of the idea, but it was Neville who first put together in something a little more solid, and Neville who first called them all back together into the old, familiar Room of Requirement.

“I, um…” He stuttered slightly “Vol… Voldemort’s gone, but I think we all know the Death Eaters aren’t.” He nodded, confidence crowing with every murmur of agreement. “So I think neither should we.”

Dumbledore’s Army still had a mission.

And, together, maybe they could change the world.

**X-Files**

As much as Ginny loved her father, sometimes his ideas and inventions didn’t work out so well. And sometimes, they worked out too well.

“Where… Where am I even supposed to start?”

“I think Mr. Mulder made a very reasonable case.”

“But that’s not how physics works! That’s not how any of it works!”

“You think it works?”

“I…”

“Exactly.”

“Luna!”

Stuck in the back of the Room of Requirement, Ron and Ginny simultaneously rolled their eyes. Their dad had sent them a lovely end-of-term gift, something he said a muggle friend had absolutely recommend, something they could all do together and that their girlfriends were guaranteed to love. Something called a “DVD”.

Problem was, their girlfriends did love it. Too much.

Ginny gritted her teeth and hissed. “Would you two please shut up so we can keep watching?”

**Yorkshire Puddings**

The little pastry, so savoury and so sweet, sat there, warm on Ginny’s plate. It was one of her favourites. Yet, somehow, she just didn’t have the appetite. So she just stared back.

If you stare too long at the pastry, the pastry stares back at you.

And then it disappears, along with the rest of breakfast. And then Headmistress Hooch rises up to her podium with the lovely lady from the Wizarding Examinations Authority. “If everyone could please clear the hall so we can ready.” She gave the crowd of students a smile. “For of you taking your N.E.W.T.S. today, I wish you the best of luck. And success.”

It felt like the entire Gryffindor table rose to their feet at the same time. It was Ron who first let out a squeak. “Please tell me there’s at least one person who’s ready?”

**Zenith**

As the sun glittered lazily across the waters of the lake, Ginny melted more lazily into Luna’s lap under the shade of the leaves, and Luna fiddled even more lazily with her hair.

“What do you want to do next?”

The world was not alright. There was still so many things that needed to be fixed, so many things that needed to be done. So many things that could still go wrong. But, at least today, exams over and the world in wait just beyond the horizon, it didn’t matter. Today, they could have a moment of peace.

Ginny smiled. “Whatever you want.”

And tomorrow, they’d be together. And then nothing really could go wrong.


End file.
